The Wright Card

MANIFESTO

I'd missed Deadeye Dick's asinine comments on Jeremiah Wright due to some obligations late yesterday, but Digby's post on them brought them to my attention. (Greg Sargent also discusses them here; as good as the post is, the comments are better.)

Regarding the Rev. Mr. Wright, the basis of everyone's complaints against him is that he's at least wrong, and perhaps treasonous. Thus, everybody and his brother have been trying to distance themselves from him. I disagree with these characterizations as I see him continuing in the prophetic tradition of, among others, Elijah, Amos, and John the Baptist—models that Deadeye Dick and the rest of his evangelical coterie certainly shouldn't object to.

No prophet sanctions the status quo; he will always rail against the shortcomings (call them "sins" if you wish) of the society in which he finds himself. It isn't a prophet's job to compliment his culture, and, clearly, Jeremiah Wright sees himself in that role. (Needless to say, pronoun use notwithstanding, this isn't exclusively a role for males.)

Indeed, it's the yes men of the Old and New Testaments who are often derogated most severely. The Saducees and Pharisees of Jesus's time are today looked upon as mere quislings during Rome's rule. Amaziah is just another toady in the Book of Amos. And the prophets of Baal and Asherah are so repugnant that Elijah has them killed.

Clearly, the lapel-pin-wearing Cheney, Bush, Yoo, Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales, and the rest of the Bushies are the Ahabs, the Jereboams, the Herods of today. The Rev. Mr. Wright is absolutely correct in pointing this out. His faith and his tradition demand no less.

Thus, while I'm not surprised that authoritarian apologists like Beck, Limbaugh, et allia, are impugning the remarks and character of the Chicago UCC minister, I'd prefer that his parishioner, Mr. Obama, at least acknowledge the tradition that his pastor is following. A prophet has no honor in his own country, which is as it should be; a man wouldn't be a true prophet if he were actually liked by the powers that be.

As Socrates asserted, a prophet is perforce a gadfly. As the gadfly, Jeremiah Wright, has discovered, one will be attacked when fulfilling such a role, but it's crucial to speak out, especially in these times, if the power of the tyrants in charge is to be curbed at all.